Web homebuyershandbook.org

Buying a Mobile Home

Each of us has seen the news segments of tornadoes tearing through a mobile home park.  These features are news and each of us typically are fascinated by Nature's awesome destructive forces.  However, more site built (traditional homes) are destroyed each year by tornadoes than mobile homes, but the news media typically accentuates the fact that the structures are mobile. The simple truth is that all homes become mobile in 250 mph winds.

Today's mobile home industry is nothing like the "house trailers" of old.  The quality of mobile homes exceeds those of a traditional site built home, but the industry has had a difficult time overcoming those early years when quality and technology suffered.  Even the term "mobile home" has become out-dated.  Today's "manufactured home" or "factory-built" home is constructed of better materials and better engineered that most site built homes.

• Factory-built homes are less expensive, because they use the same labor resources on each home. The cost of labor for any home (site built or factory built) is much more than the cost of materials that goes into the home.  Stick (site) built homes use different sub contractors for each home they build and the quality of that labor is variable.  Any of us who has ever heard a 'contractor horror story' will appreciate the variability in the quality of labor that goes into a site built home.

• Factory built homes are built in manufacturing plants that build 1,000's of homes each year.  Each worker performs the same function, each day, and there is an enormous amount of pride that goes into each home.  The finished product is more consistent because labor resources are more consistent.

• Because so many homes can be built in this manner, producers help lower the cost of the home by using their high volume purchasing power.  Rather than purchasing a roll of Romex wire, they typically purchase 20 truckloads of Romex wire.  Materials producers typically sell factory-built home manufacturers "at" or 'below" cost, because these producers help them keep their costs low to other buyers. Also, with recent price volatility in building materials, Manufactured homes have relatively stable production costs because manufacturers lock-in prices for a full year.  Recently, Romex wire has tripled in price.  Manufactured housing has agreed to buy price for a full year at last years pricing.

• The quality of materials used in factory-built homes are now the same as those used in site-built homes.  During the early years, mobile homes used 2" by 2" wall studs.  Today's factory-built homes use the same 2" by 4" wall studs used in site built homes.

• Factory built homes now use a high quality adhesive system for dry wall.  Site built homes must use a nail or drywall screw to attach the drywall.  These fasteners work loose as the site-built home settles.  The adhesive system is designed to withstand vibration during transportation and do not work loose as fasteners used in site built homes.  The adhesive system also eliminates unsightly nail homes found in dry wall of site built homes.

• Factory-built homes now use "tape and texture" for walls rather than pre-finished wall board (paneling).  In other words, they use the same dry wall that can be found in any site-built home.  Typically, a heavier thickness of dry wall is used is used in factory built homes because they must withstand more stresses during transportation.  Also the "mud-work" in factory-built homes is usually a better quality.  The quality of dry wall finishing always has been a challenge for site built home builders.  Dry wall seams are easily seen when light crosses the seam.  Good dry wall finishers are difficult to find and the low wages typically paid on site built homes does not allow finishers to pay their employees, obtain health insurance, pay taxes, liability insurance, and workers compensation premiums.  The quality of labor in site built homes is highly variable and good finishers do not remain in the profession for very long.  Factory-built homes have a distinct advantage here, since they provide benefits to their employees and have a more stable labor pool.

• Factory-built homes are now hurricane rated to resist high winds. A recent 60 minute expose' utilized a C-130 military aircraft to simulate the high winds generated during a hurricane.  The C-130 was tethered to the ground in front of a factory-built home and a custom-built home.  The propellers were revved to full-throttle and the site-built custom home was shredded, while the factory-built home was virtually untouched.  While many of the tornado news footage involving mobiles homes shows extensive damage, many of these homes were built during the early years of mobile home engineering.  Today's factory-built home is engineered with longevity in mind.

In May 2001, Texas Tech University and the Department of Energy tried to blow over a properly secured single-wide manufactured home with 100-mile-per-hour winds furnished by the engines of a Texas Air National Guard C-130 aircraft parked next to it. The home withstood the test, losing only a few shingles.

The bottom line is when you walk into a manufactured home today, you will not know you are in a "mobile home" unless you are told.  Factory-built homes now offer the same amenities  offered by much more expensive spec homes.  These amenities include bay

windows, attached garages, brick fireplaces, hot tubs and Jacuzzi's, hardwood flooring, wallpaper and paint, and any other amenity that you would find in a site-built home. 

Manufacturers today even "custom build" factory built homes according to your specifications.  Your amenities options rival those of custom built homes or tract built homes at a fraction of the cost. 

Today's factory-built home offers the best value for your dollar of any home.

[Up] [Mobile Home Value]

Helton Genealogical DNA Project - Hilton Family Tree - http://hiltonfamilytree.com

	Website Design and Optimization by The Home Buyers Handbook
	Helton Genealogical DNA Project - Hilton Family Tree - http://hiltonfamilytree.com
	Tiger Baseball - Championship Caliber Youth Baseball based in Dalton GA- GeorgiaTigers.net